1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1493 



"This reduced your hive to nine frames, 

 then?" 



"Yes; and T used those nine-frame Gallup 

 hives for more than 25 years; and from such 

 hives, in the year 1877, 1 secured over BOO lbs. 

 of section honey from two colonies, while the 

 average of the whole apiary was 166| 

 pounds." 



"Whew! That almost takes my breath 

 away. And what was the selling price of 

 that honey? " 



"I sold honey in those years from 35 to 28^ 

 cents per pound, drawn to my nearest city, 

 Syracuse, we having a honey-dealer there in 

 those days who bought our crops all through 

 this section." 



" That explains how you could get three 

 to four dollars more per colony by using the 

 dummies as you just spoke of. When you 

 made that statement I did not see how it was 

 done. But this makes it plain. Bee-keeping 

 must have been profitable in those days." 



"Yes, it certainly was. And one of the 

 things that made it so, besides the large 

 price, was that the smallest box or section 

 then used weighed 2^ pounds, while veiy 

 many bee-keepers used from three to six 

 pound boxes. Now the largest sections used 

 weigh only a pound when tilled, so that the 

 bee-keeper of to-day, when raising his 10 to 

 15 cent honey, has from more than twice to 

 six times the number of boxes to scrape, 

 crate, and get ready for market, that he had 

 then. But we are wandering from your 

 questions." 



"Yes, I knew we were; but I was anxious 

 to learn of these things. Do you think that 

 my ten Gallup-frauie hives are about right 

 for comb-honey production? The white clo- 

 ver is our main honey-plant, but we have 

 some linden and jjoplar. " 



"Yes. They will do very well. I like the 

 idea of using a hive sufficiently large; and 

 then where any queen keeps or has the frames 

 well filled with brood at the time the flow of 

 nectar begins, allow the whole number of 

 frames to remain, when putting on the su- 

 pei"s. And where the queen is not compe- 

 tent to keep all full, I take away all the 

 frames she is not keeping up with brood, 

 and put dummies in their places. In this 

 way all hives are suited to the laying capac- 

 ity of the queens when the supers are put on. 

 I have had splendid work done in the sec- 

 tions by colonies which had only six Gal- 

 lup frames in the hive all during the flow 

 from white clover and basswood." 

 ' "But you did not leave them thus for win- 

 tering?" 



"No. At the end of the white-honey har- 

 vest the sections were taken off, the dum- 

 mies taken out, and the hive filled out with 

 frames, and in this way the colonies gener- 

 ally stored sufficient stores from the fall flow 

 for winter. In this way we are able to sell 

 the larger part of the white honey gathered, 

 which brings a better price in market, while 

 the bees winter on the dark honey (just as 

 good for them), which would not bring us 

 nearly so much, if we had this for sale, and 

 allowed the bees to winter on the white, as I 



used to do when each hive was a full twelve 

 frame hive." 



"1 see what you are driving at, and I 

 thank you for these thoughts. But can I buy 

 the Gallup hives and supers on the market? 

 I know the hive is a back number, but I like 

 it." 



"I doubt about the Gallup hive being kept 

 in stock now by any supply-dealer or manu- 

 facturer; but you should have no trouble in 

 getting them made to order. The supply- 

 manufacturers will till an order for ' any old 

 thing,' but you will want to tell them what 

 you want a month or so before you wish to 

 use the material, and then you will have it, 

 just as much to your advantage as though it 

 were something regularly kept in stock." 



"That is all, and I thank you for this in- 

 terview." 



"You are welcome. But before you go I 

 wish to say that there is very little choice in 

 any of the good hives of to-day; and as you 

 grow older you will come to think as I do — 

 that there is advantage enough in using a 

 regular line of goods to pay us for falling in- 

 to line with the rest. It may surprise you 

 when I tell you that I have bees in only three 

 or four Gallup hives now, and those only as 

 relics of the past." 



"Well, that is a surprise. What hive do 

 you use?" 



"The ten-frame Langstroth; and after get- 

 ting fully used to it I have no doubt that I 

 can produce just as much comb honey with 

 it as it was possible to do with the Gallup in 

 its balmiest days, and that with very much 

 less labor." 



ANNUAL MEETING OF THE ONTARIO BEE- 

 KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION. 



In spite of the very poor honey season the 

 opening session of the association brought 

 about as large an attendance as that organ- 

 ization ever had at that function. No doubt 

 the single return railroad fare had much to 

 do with this. The rate was secured owing 

 to the meeting being in conjunction with the 

 fruit, flower, and honey show, and the an- 

 nual meeting of the Fruit-growers' and Veg- 

 etable-growers' Associations. Let the wise 

 take a lesson. 



The meeting opened in the spacious hall of 

 the York County Council (free to us) at 2 p.m., 

 Nov. 7, Pres. H. G. Sibbald, Claude, Ont., in 

 the chair. Delegates had numbers, and there 

 was a list to identify speakers. 



In his Presidential address Mr. Sibbald 

 stated that, out of the season's discourage- 

 ments, there was this to say: Thev were one 



